STOP READING if you’re already living your best life; this blog is not for you…
But if you’re like me, and you feel pretty good about your life, but you have a feeling you could do, learn, give, discover, and/or accomplish MORE, come along for the ride – we’ll grow together.
With so many ways to reach new heights and deeper levels as a human (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, intellectually), where the hell does one begin?
Some might start with their highest priority, or some with their biggest weakness, but I’m going to start with what I know best and work out from there: the physical.
I have a goal…
The OCRWC 3k World Championship race is in 101 days, and I want to put myself in the best possible position to win it.
Despite leading by a hair for most of the race last year, I finished third. Like before, I’m training very hard, but if one wants a different outcome, they must do something different. So I’m ready to take things to the next level. To have a shot at being THE best, I’ve got to discover and develop MY best. Let’s start with first thing in the morning…
How are your mornings? My mornings have a solid foundation of healthy habits already (https://medium.com/authority-magazine/rose-wetzel-american-ninja-warrior-athlete-on-the-morning-routines-and-habits-of-highly-a4b8814f0812), but they can definitely be better.
One might think that to be a better athlete, one should just do more working out, and I will be adding in almost-daily, ever-increasing pushup and pullup challenges, but there’s a saying in Chinese medicine that if you have too much yang, your body forces you to shift to yin. Think of the last time you over-worked yourself, with too many hours cleaning up messes at work or home and not sleeping well – we tend to get sick, and our body forces us to take rest, no matter how inconvenient the timing is. I remember many of my personal training clients who worked high-stress corporate jobs would work extra hard to get things lined up before a vacation and then…get sick on vacation.
So, to become the best athlete I can be, in my quest to become the best human I can be (or was it the other way around?), I’m adding in both yang (think things that fire up the nervous system) and yin (think things that slow it down and help it recharge) in the hopes that the yin will allow me to create capacity for more yang (in the form of training) without getting injured or burnt out. Bring on massage therapy after an intense couple weeks of training – yes, please!
Morning mantra: “My body is rested and my mind is clear. Today is going to be a great day.”
2 minute meditation
10 minute yoga/stretch
no social media until 9am
My goal is to share my progress with you everyday to hold myself accountable. I’ll add in a few things that generally take me out of my comfort zone and/or cause me to be more disciplined, such as doing dishes (I hand-washed a TON for my family of 11 people, as a kid), swimming, burpees, heavy carries, and things like changing our car’s oil. I’ll add in my typical run training as well, once my body recovers from the 14.7-mile, 2600 feet of climbing, and 31 obstacles my body endured last weekend in Puebla, Mexico!
After five minutes of being harnessed in and looking 75 feet down, my heart raced and my palms sweated. I felt scared – very scared – but leaving the platform via the stairs wasn’t an option…
I was committed to the jump. it was just a matter of gathering the courage.
How did I know in my mind I would do it? Because leaving one’s comfort zone is like a muscle – the more you do it, the easier it gets, even if it still feels difficult.
Ever since moving across the country as a teenager to accept an athletic scholarship to a college where I knew nobody, I’ve slowly gotten comfortable feeling uncomfortable – a skill that has consistently helped me to conquer fear and live a fuller life.
Think of all the brave things you’ve done in life.What’s the next scary thing on your list?
This year taught me important life lessons: believe in yourself, be patient and persistent, forgive, empower yourself, and above all, never give up on yourself and your goals.
How did I learn them? The hard way of course…
One year ago today, I almost gave up.
After a distressing phone call from a long-time sponsor (a beet juice company) telling me they weren’t going to support me anymore because they “didn’t know how to market me” or that I, as I interpreted it, “wasn’t good enough anymore, since becoming a mom,” I realized they didn’t believe in me. They didn’t believe that I still had potential or fire, that anyone would still bother paying attention to who I represented and what I had to say.
I let anxiety get the best of me, turning that week into my worst Christmas ever. I stressed over every penny. We didn’t get a Christmas tree or gifts; Santa didn’t come for Taylor, which made me feel like a bad mom, a failure.
I felt the wolves of depression gnawing at my heels again, trying to pull me back into the woods, after I had finally clawed my way out of the depths of postpartum depression six months prior.
Amidst doubt and frustration, I also felt mad. The people at the beet juice company knew I was my family’s sole income earner while Tim stayed at home with Taylor, searching for a good post-cancer career after our move to Colorado, yet they’d waited weeks before getting back to me about plans for the following year, giving me no heads-up things would suddenly change after 5 years of working together. I felt angry because I knew they had been off enjoying a company holiday party without the courtesy of letting me know I was getting canned while I still had time to find another sponsor before the end of the year.
With no holiday plans or travel, I worked out HARD that week, taking my frustration out on wind sprints and ball slams.
But then despite doing nearly nothing to celebrate, a bit of Christmas magic must’ve found its way into my sad, angry heart, and I suddenly realized the only person who has to believe in me….is me.
So I chose to believe in myself, and that was all that mattered.
The good news? American Ninja Warrior, CLIF Bar (a loyal longtime sponsor), and, eventually, two awesome new sponsors, PurePower, and MitoQ, all chose to believe in me, too, and had no problem finding ways to market this mama, from a feature during prime-time NBC to a full-page print article in the New Zealand Herald.
As for fire, I used it to fuel my training, which propelled me to a podium spot at the first big Spartan Series two months later and secure a fourth place in the Series Championship standings.
They say “holding onto resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die,” so I let go of all anger and resentment, and choosing to focus on gratitude instead – for Tim and our playful toddler, for health, for sunsets, for hope.
They say “when one door closes, another one opens”…
Today, exactly one year later, I am happy and grateful to report that I just had the exact opposite experience: the fantastic CMO of MitoQ just wrote to tell me that everyone there values my partnership, and they are requesting to expand it next year!
If I hadn’t been fired by the beet juice company, which had expanded into supplements, I wouldn’t have been able to partner with MitoQ, and I would not have this fantastic offer before me, which will allow me to train better next year.
And even though at the time it was a tough pill to swallow, I’m also grateful for the lessons I learned, making me a stronger, softer, more grateful and resilient person.
How do you stay motivated? What’s your “why”? Why do you get out of bed and take on hard challenges? Why do you work to be your best? 🔥
One reason I crawl through mud and flip heavy tires is to prepare myself for when life throws mud in my face and when roadblocks try to stop me from forward progress…
Racing helps me establish good habits, like thinking on my feet, and choosing to get gritty when things go wrong (as they often do, like when I got post-partum depression or when Tim got cancer).
Can you relate?
I’m feeling grateful after finishing the last race of the Spartan U.S. National Series in fourth, bumping my fifth place ranking to fourth. As someone who was still pregnant two years ago at this time, I feel encouraged by my progress, and I look forward to taking this momentum into the upcoming championship season!
My sponsors deserve a shout out for their support (Clif Bar, Pure Power, and MitoQ), and YOU deserve a “thank you,” too, for sticking with me throughout my journey!
This year taught me important life lessons: believe in yourself, be patient and persistent, forgive, empower yourself, and above all, never give up on yourself and your goals.
They say “when one door closes, another one opens”…
Today, exactly one year later, I am happy and grateful to report that I just had the exact opposite experience: the fantastic CMO of MitoQ just wrote to tell me that everyone there values my partnership, and they are requesting to expand it next year!
If I hadn’t been fired by the beet juice company, which had expanded into supplements, I wouldn’t have been able to partner with MitoQ, and I would not have this fantastic offer before me, which will allow me to train better next year.
And even though at the time it was a tough pill to swallow, I’m also grateful for the lessons I learned, making me a stronger, softer, more grateful and resilient person.
One reason I crawl through mud and flip heavy tires is to prepare myself for when life throws mud in my face and when roadblocks try to stop me from forward progress…
Racing helps me establish good habits, like thinking on my feet, and choosing to get gritty when things go wrong (as they often do, like when I got post-partum depression or when Tim got cancer).
Can you relate?
I’m feeling grateful after finishing the last race of the Spartan U.S. National Series in fourth, bumping my fifth place ranking to fourth. As someone who was still pregnant two years ago at this time, I feel encouraged by my progress, and I look forward to taking this momentum into the upcoming championship season!
My sponsors deserve a shout out for their support (Clif Bar, Pure Power, and MitoQ), and YOU deserve a “thank you,” too, for sticking with me throughout my journey!
